:laugh: I hope the Republicans arent Bluffing...if you ask me, they should keep their line and force the President into Austerity WITHOUT tax rises. If I was them I WOULD force it, just like he forced the health reform...if it brings down his Presidency when the US defaults because he wont Listen to all parties as he promised he would when he came to power...then so be it. :) After all...if the Democrats want to stop an Austerity Budgit...its time for the Republicans to FORCE them to ballence their books by making America Default. That will teach them that they cant just live off credit, borrow, and expect the public to pay more taxes to pay for it. It would also stop Barack Obama being re-ellected I reckon. I hope John Boehner has the strength not to fold at the last moment. :unsure-1:

Republican House Speaker John Boehner quits debt talks

Republican House Speaker John Boehner has walked away from crunch debt ceiling talks at the White House with US President Barack Obama.

Mr Obama said Mr Boehner had rejected an "extraordinarily fair deal" that would have included $650bn (£400bn) of cuts to entitlement programmes.

The president said he had been willing to take "a lot of heat" from his party.

Mr Boehner told a news conference afterwards that Mr Obama had "moved the goal posts" by demanding a tax hike.

President Obama said he wanted a meeting with congressional leaders, including Mr Boehner, at the White House at 1100 (1500 GMT) on Saturday.

'Left at the altar'

The negotiations are aimed at avoiding what analysts say would be an economically catastrophic US debt default on 2 August.

"It is hard to understand why Speaker Boehner would walk away from this kind of deal," President Obama said at a news conference on Friday evening.

As well as cutting $650bn from Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlements, the president said he was offering to slash $1tr in discretionary spending, while seeking $1.2tr in revenues, which could have been achieved by raising income tax rates.

In a rebuttal news conference later on Friday evening, Mr Boehner said they had been close to a deal until Mr Obama had demanded $400bn in tax increases on top of about $800bn in revenues that would have been reaped through a comprehensive rewrite of the tax code.

"Dealing with the White House is like dealing with a bowl of Jell-O," Mr Boehner said.

He told reporters he did not think his relationship with Mr Obama had been "irreparably damaged", and that he would attend Saturday's meeting.

White House correspondents said Mr Obama looked visibly angry as he told reporters he, too, thought a deal had been close until Mr Boehner did not return a phone call made by the president earlier on Friday.

"I've been left at the altar now a couple of times," Mr Obama said of the talks with Mr Boehner.

For the first time, Mr Obama publicly countenanced the possibility of the US not meeting its financial obligations.

"If we default, then we're going to have to make adjustments," he said.

Moments later, the president added he remained confident the $14.3tn limit on US borrowing would be raised by the 2 August deadline.

Mr Obama also said he was "fed up" with political posturing.

'We couldn't connect'

In a letter to the Republican rank and file, Mr Boehner said: "A deal was never reached, and was never really close.

He wrote: "I have decided to end discussions with the White House and begin conversations with the leaders of the Senate in an effort to find a path forward."

With the clock ticking down toward a national default after weeks of deadlocked negotiations, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a Republican, told reporters on Friday that inaction would result in dire consequences.

"Failing to raise the debt ceiling would do irreparable harm to our credit standing, would undermine our ability to lead on global economic issues and would damage our economy," he said.

Meanwhile, the Democratic-led US Senate rejected a "cut, cap and balance" bill passed by the Republican-led House, which would have severely cut public spending and forced the government to balance its budget.

Republicans have been unwilling to consider raising new taxes to counter the growing budget deficits.

The Democrats have been opposed to cutting popular healthcare and welfare programmes for pensioners and the poor

Miss Foxy

07-25-2011 03:07 PM

Let's also add that our idiots in government are downsizing our military!! Certain rates from 7-13 yrs of service are getting their walking papers... Gee thanks government war and sacrifice to get laid off!!:angry: Sad to say if Senator McCain was in office this would NEVER happen.

CAVEMAN

07-25-2011 03:54 PM

A total financial collapse is looming.........this government is giving nothing but lip service. It comes down to the global banks and quantitative easing.

The collapse of the global banks is inevitable.......when that happens a financial tsunami will hit the global economy and send it into a tail spin.....such that has not been witnessed before.

NateR

07-25-2011 03:59 PM

No matter what happens, if the government defaults it will most likely be seen as the President's failure. He's the guy in the Oval Office, so he should get the blame.

What's funny is that, back in early 2009 before Obama forced his stimulus plan through, people were warning that Obama's plan combined with Bush's bank bailout (which Obama voted for), would push our national debt beyond 14 trillion in a few years. When I tried telling Obama supporters about this, they would always say, "That's impossible!" or "You watch too much Fox News!"

Now, it's 2011 and the debt is over $14 trillion. Looks like the warnings about potentially catastrophic economic effects from Obama's 2009 stimulus plan were true. Although I believe it's happened a lot faster than what was predicted.

Maybe the government needs to default and Social Security, Medicare and Welfare need to collapse. Then churches and secular charities can step in to meet those needs and people can stop depending upon the government for their survival.

Tyburn

07-25-2011 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CAVEMAN
(Post 172276)

A total financial collapse is looming.........this government is giving nothing but lip service. It comes down to the global banks and quantitative easing.

The collapse of the global banks is inevitable.......when that happens a financial tsunami will hit the global economy and send it into a tail spin.....such that has not been witnessed before.

its being so happy that keeps us going :blink:

CAVEMAN

07-25-2011 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyburn
(Post 172284)

its being so happy that keeps us going :blink:

I know it sounds dismal, but there is no way this country is paying back 14.5 trillion dollars. Greece is not going to recover, Italy is next to crash, Ireland has mounting debt as well. The dominos are beginning to fall and it's going to continue.

Tyburn

07-25-2011 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CAVEMAN
(Post 172294)

I know it sounds dismal, but there is no way this country is paying back 14.5 trillion dollars. Greece is not going to recover, Italy is next to crash, Ireland has mounting debt as well. The dominos are beginning to fall and it's going to continue.

Thank GOD for the Chinese then :blink:

:laugh: I dont know whether to laugh or cry :cry:

Miss Foxy

07-25-2011 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyburn
(Post 172299)

Thank GOD for the Chinese then :blink:

:laugh: I dont know whether to laugh or cry :cry:

Amen brotha as I am eating panda express !! lol..

County Mike

07-26-2011 12:03 PM

Chinese. Time to learn it.

Ni Hao. Kai-Lan.

Buzzard

07-26-2011 12:37 PM

The economy and the debt are all man-made devices. Let's take a huge eraser and erase all debt globally and start from scratch.